Introducing Sen. George J. Mitchell to a Bovard Auditorium audience last October, President Steven B. Sample called him the man most credited with bringing about the peace agreement in Northern Ireland. And for the next 30 minutes, Mitchell shared the challenges he faced in his efforts to facilitate the agreement between the British and Irish governments that resulted in a peace treaty between the two opposing countries signed on Good Friday, 1998.Mitchell said negotiating the treaty was by far the longest and most difficult task Ive ever undertaken. While there may be further conflicts, he said, he believes the organized political crimes of the past few decades will not continue.When Mitchell retired from the U.S. Senate in 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed him as his special adviser and secretary of state for economic initiatives in Ireland. Mitchell has worked for two years as chairman of the peace talks.The Presidents Distinguished Lecture Series, inaugurated in 1996, brings prominent men and women to USC to discuss significant issues of the day.